Maine to deploy statewide EHR
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HealthInfoNet began as the Maine Health Information Network Technology (MHINT) project in 2004. That year, four groups, including the Maine Health Access Foundation, Maine CDC, the Maine Quality Forum and the Maine Health Information Center, came together to study whether or not Maine was ready to develop a statewide electronic health information exchange (HIE). The study found that strong support existed for such a system.
By 2005, the MHINT project brought together a larger group of stakeholders to explore what it would take to create a HIE in Maine. An extensive planning and development process then began. This process resulted in the establishment of HealthInfoNet as a new, independent non-profit organization in early 2006. Today, Maine is about to become one of the first states in the nation to develop a statewide HIE.
Bangor Daily News reported that the system is expected to help detect and track outbreaks of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, Lyme disease and the H1N1 swine flu.
"This really is not a health IT project," Devore Culver, HealthInfoNet's executive director, told the Bangor Daily News. "This is a healthcare delivery project. What we're doing is trying to deliver better care." Only Delaware has implemented a similar statewide network, he added, but that state's system is limited to laboratory data only.
Health data on more than 400,000 Maine patients has already has been entered into the HealthInfoNet system from affiliates of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in Brewer, Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston, MaineGeneral Medical Centers in Augusta and Waterville, and MaineHealth in Portland. In addition, medical practices affiliated with Martin's Point Health Care in Portland--including practices in Bangor, Brunswick and Portland--are participating, along with the public health laboratory of the Maine CDC.